


Warmth

by DrMcNastyPhD



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types
Genre: Character Undeath, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Lich, Necromancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:56:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26714836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrMcNastyPhD/pseuds/DrMcNastyPhD
Summary: Phaele has had a comfortable living situation for a while now. She's out of that stuffy temple, she's exploring the world, and she gets to hang out with her best friend Bella every day. That is until the lord of the keep, Lelfar, gives her permission to perform her necromancy experiments. Bella being the master necromancer she is jumps at the chance and dives headfirst into her research, barely seeing the light of day and more importantly barely seeing Phaele. With the light of her day barely emerging from that dark dungeon Phaele spirals into a seething hatred for the one who allowed this to happen.But that hate only grows when the necromancer's latest experiment crosses the final line.





	Warmth

**Author's Note:**

> feedback welcome

_ Fucking lefar, that knife-eared son of a bitch. I spent months arguing with her telling her no, and had just gotten her to quiet down and he undoes all of my work on a whim.  _ Phaele was fuming, staring at the now vacant corner of the room. A handmade sign still hung above it. “The Bella Corner” She couldn't bring herself to put anything in it, believing on the off chance Bella would return. She knew Bella cared for her but with just how Bella is, signs of clear affection are so few and far between. She settled for having a place Bella could go to when she wasnt off doing whatever it was she did. It wouldn't be altogether wrong to use the analogy that Bella is an outdoor cat/emotional support animal. She comes and goes as she pleases but whenever Phaele sees her she just feels better. And Lefar took that all away.

Since getting permission, Bella has moved her stuff out of the Bella corner and into the dungeons beneath the keep. She “commandeered” the 9 corpses that were made in the past month and secluded herself down in the depths of the deep.  _ Just like back home _ . Back in Asoronos there was a similar set up but there was more structure to it. Bella would participate in the Fighting pits at night, using her zombies or whatever abomination she cooked up to fight in her stead, and only using her magic as self defense. (As per Phaeles orders. She didn't want her friend becoming a murderer, half because she didn't want that stress on her friend’s conscience and half because she was legitimately afraid of how Bella would react to killing.) Phaele spent her nights usually running her underground nightclub in her temple, only showing up to the fight pit when Bella was fighting. Bella would then spend the next night prowling the catacombs under phaeles temple for the bodies of the recently deceased fighters to do experiments on. She would drag up surprisingly large amounts of corpses from the underground despite her small stature and then perform her tests and have her fun. Usually with Phaele in the same room since back then they also shared work space. The Bella corner 1.0 as it were. 

The days were much more structured than they were now. Bella being the niece of the ruler of the nation, she would often be dragged to many formal events to keep up appearances. She would often also be subjected to going to the royal court meetings simply because no other royal family members could be bothered to attend and they were sure she wouldn't cause any commotion. Phaele generally spent most of her time in her temple, as she had since the day she was born and for the last 30 years. She never really had a reason to leave beside the occasional walk to prevent her from going crazy or to visit Bella’s estate. If she wanted entertainment or “companionship” she could always count on her night club activities to provide for her. Besides the temple was a safe haven for Bella. Bella would come over whenever she had free time to either study her dark arts without her family knowing or read up on anatomy. And Phaele would just sit with her and hang out. The best part about halflings Phaele’s opinion was their size. Phaele could just hold Bella in her lap as she read and read along with her. Just being with Bella made her happy. And lefar took that one bit of happiness away from her. 

Phaele continued to stare at the empty corner as she reminisced about the past. Remembering one conversation she had with a particularly excited Bella about organs more than a decade ago. She practically rammed into Phaele carrying a tome of anatomy almost the same size as her. She then proceeded to list off a bunch of interesting facts about the body, including that both bones and skin are organs. She was super excited to use this information in her next experiments. 

Long story short Phaele has significantly less Bella time and its Lefar’s fault. Both of them being avid experimenters, they spend a lot of time in their stations testing out things. This wasn't a problem before as they shared the same space to test. But now that Bella has moved physically as far away as possible for her tests and Phaele was running experiments of her own they would almost never see each other. This was not without a silver lining. She knew where Bella was at all times. The problem was not having time to go see her. With the previous set up she wouldn't know where Bella was most of the day but for at least and hour or so Bella would materialize in the Bella corner and make Phaele’s day. 

To solve this problem Phaele had to compromise. She relented that Bella would be allowed to experiment in her dungeon but on the condition that she appeared at a mandated weekly dinner. Unfortunately that included Neokan because he insisted. Saying it would be “like old times.” She also extended the obligatory invitation to Bella’s bodyguards if they wanted but she doubts any of them except maybe Temple would accept.  _ Although I wouldn't mind if Chidi showed up.she does look good in her black outfits. _ Anyway the point is that now she only gets to see Bella once a week. Fuck Lefar.

3 weeks into the new situation

Phaele’s mood was taking a turn for the worse. The lack of Bella was deteriorating her mood each day. Even after her mandated weekly dinner, her mood did not improve all that much. Another thing that did not help was that since Bella now had her zombie “Tony” she would send him to deliver messages to Phaele instead of going to see Phaele herself. Phaele had taken to trying to fill the hole in her heart with other “pleasures.” she started to spend more time out of her workshop, and hitting on women. She has had moderate success but it can't fill that hafling sized hole in her heart. 

After a failed outing with a couple of ladies Phaele returned to her workshop as usual but something made her stop. She did her usual glance at the corner formerly known as the Bella corner and found a parcel upon the desk that she kept perfectly clear for when Bella wanted to return. A flash of anger flared in her eyes as she approached the desk. _Who would DARE?_ As she reached the desk she noticed a letter written in perfect cursive print, Bella’s print, and she read it as fast as she could:  
Hi Phaele,   
I'm gonna try something and I need your help. Inside that box is something very important to me and I need it to be safe while I do this. There is nowhere saferer than I can think of besides you. Maybe Neokan but he is always with you so technically he is protecting it too. Im sorry but I am gonna have to miss our dinner tomorrow. I will be missing for a couple of days, I will be in my Lab, please do not enter the lab for the next 3 days/ If you do not see me after the 3rd day then you may enter. My bodyguards have been alerted to the situation and so has Neokan. I trust you with my life and so I will trust you with this. No Matter what happens, I want you to know you are the Best Friend I have and that I love you.

See you in three days,

Bella

Phaele read the letter and was very confused. She opened the box and found a small stone statue in the perfect likeness of Bella. Phaele took it and held it, feeling the cold stone in her palm. She then turned to Neokan, who was dosing off in a chair in another part of the room and woke up. After brief questioning she learned that Neokan had received a similar message and basically not worrying about it. “You and I both know more than anyone that Bella is a weird girl. Just take the letter at face value and appreciate that she showed some affection.” He proceeded to go back to dozing off. Phaele then attempted to enter the dungeons but was met with the large automaton named Temple blocking her path. Temple informed her he was given express orders to take the next 4 days as his shift seeing as how he did not need to sleep and that he was told to not let anyone in, especially her.   
Phaele was livid, had temple been able to feel changes in temperature he would have felt a 20 degree shift downard of in the immediate area. The physical ramifications were shown as large droplets of condensation started to form on the robot’s exposed metal. She wanted to tear that robot apart and enter, she could have done it. _I repaired you, that means I know how to take you apare just as easily_. She decided against it though, as she wanted to trust Bella’s judgement, even though it can easily be called into question the many times Phaele has had to save her small friend from some horror she created. But Bella was 2 years her senior and the last time she had been attacked by any undead made by her had been over a decade ago. As much as it pained Phaele to say it Bella was smarter than her and knew what she was doing when it came to her field of expertise. So Phaele put her faith in her friend and decided to wait. 

After 2 days the stone started to glow in the middle of the night, waking up Phaele and scaring her. She reached out and grabbed the figurine, feeling warmth coming off of it. It almost felt….Alive?

The following morning Phaele was in her workshop when a surprise visitor showed up. Bella herself. Phaele was stunned, paralyzed by emotion for a mere moment. After it passed she rushed over and kneeled in front of bella. Checking her all over for scratches and any other sign of injury, much like a mother would her child who came back home covered in grime and dirt. And like that child Bella stood there smiling from ear to ear, obviously proud of herself. 

“I did it!” Bella proudly announced once Phaele was content with her check

“Did what? Why did you have to be alone for several days?”

“I did the thing that I always wanted to do!”

Phaele’s heart almost stopped beating right there. Even Neokan came over to check out what was going on, seeing the horrified look on Phaele’s face. 

“Anyway i want you to keep it!, I can't think of anywhere safer than for it to be with you. I said I trust you with my life and I meant it.”

“What is she talking about? Phaele? Phaele, what does she mean?” Neokan asked in rapid succession, seeing the well of emotions mix on phaeles face and seeing her wings unconsciously unfold from her back. That was something she only did when she was super excited or incredibly distressed. He also noticed the chilly air around Phaele rapidly approaching freezing temperatures, assign of extreme agitation. He also noted the distinct lack of complaining from Bella, as whenever phaele’s temperature reached a certain level she would complain and make Phaele calm down to raise it back up but this was well past that limit and she looked fine

Phaele did not answer him. Instead she took out the figurine of bella from her pocket and looked from it to Bella. Going back and forth between the 2 for a full minute before raising a slow hand tentatively to Bella’s cheek. 

She cupped the cheek in her hand and felt her heart sink as it almost confirmed her suspicions. The cheek was cold.  _ There is still a chance, maybe it's just me and my cold air playing tricks. _ There was only one way to confirm. Phaele took the same hand off of Bella's cheek and placed her index finger on the cheek of the statue. It was warm. After a long pause Phaele could only muster up a single thought within her mind.  _ Fucking Lefar. _


End file.
